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Today in Labor History September 6, 1620: The Pilgrims sail from Plymouth, England on the Mayflower to settle in North America. This led to increasing immigration from Europe and colonization of North America, greatly exacerbating the genocide of Indigenous Peoples that started when Columbus first arrived in 1492. When the Europeans first arrived, historians estimate that over 10 million native peoples

1700s-1800s Today in Labor History August 31, 1798:  Irish rebels, with French assistance, established the short-lived Republic of Connacht during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. On September 8, 1798 the British army defeated the new Republic at the Battle of Ballinamuck. The British army then spread out into the rebel-held Province of Connacht, slaughtering people and burning

Today in Writing History July 26, 1856: Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw was born. Some of his more well-known plays include “Man and Superman” (1902), Pygmalion” (1912) and “Saint Joan” (1923). He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925. Shaw was also an activist with the socialist Fabian Society. He was also a eugenicist and an anti-vaxxer. By the late 1920s, he had

1810s Today in Labor History May 31, 1819: Poet Walt Whitman was born. Whitman published his first and most famous collection of poems, Leaves of Grass, in 1855, using his own money. Critics called it obscene for its sensuality (and probably also because of the rumors of his homosexuality). Indeed, many believe Whitman was gay

1500s Today in Labor History April 21, 1506: The Lisbon Massacre ended. During the three days of slaughter, Portuguese Catholics killed over 1,900 suspected Jews. April 21, 1545: Juan de Villarroel filed the first mining claim at Potosí, in what is now Bolivia. The mine was on Cerro Rico mountain, which had one of the richest

1800s Today in Labor History April 15, 1834: “Bloody Week” ended in Lyon, France, with a blood bath against insurgent silk workers. As a result, several hundred were killed. April 15, 1889: A. Philip Randolph was born on this day. He was a labor organizer and president of the African-American Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

The history of American Union Busting and the Pinkertons go hand in hand. The Pinkerton Detective Agency, created by Allan Pinkerton in 1850, plays a prominent role in my novels, particularly Anywhere But Schuylkill. The powerful Reading Railroad, which owned most of the Schuylkill County coalfields, hired them to keep their workers in line. The

1800s Today in Labor History March 15, 1877: Ben Fletcher, African-American IWW organizer was born on this date. Fletcher organized longshoremen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Today in Labor History March 15, 1887: The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades was founded. Within a year, they had 7,000 members in 100 locals. Today they represent more